Girl's Life Changes in a Heartbeat

Kylee Shea returned to school Tuesday, just two weeks after she passed out in the school’s hallway and her heart stopped.

“I kind of felt odd,” said Kylee, who is from Frisco, Texas. “So I decided to sit down.”

But before she could take a seat, Kylee, 12, blacked out and fell to the floor. She began gasping for air and her heart stopped. Doctors determined Kylee suffered from arrhythmia, or irregular heart beat. No one knows what caused it. As a precaution, doctors implanted a pacemaker.

Kristin Goodgion, a coach at Kylee’s school, was by her side within seconds.

“This could be my child,” Goodgion said. “That’s the whole thing that’s running through our heads the whole time, is Kylee needs us.”

Brent Reese, another coach, was also on the scene a few minutes later.

“She was pale, her lips started turning blue,” Reese said.

The coaches quickly noticed CPR alone wasn’t working. Goodgion had the idea to use an automated external defibrillator, also known as an AED.

After two shocks from the AED, Kylee began breathing again.

AED’s are mandatory on school campuses in Texas. A state law passed in 2007 requires at least one in each school. It also mandates that every coach and nurse be trained to use it.

But only a handful of states require them in every school.

Kylee’s family wants to raise awareness about AEDs, so that more schools will get one. Without the AED and the coaches she may have survived.